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Mine at the Collapsed Pass07.jpg Mine at the Collapsed Pass06.jpg Mine at the Collapsed Pass04.jpg Mine at the Collapsed Pass03.jpg Mine at the Collapsed Pass02.jpg Back to Side Quests Quest Information |} Walkthrough This quest begins the moment you buy the house in Erothin from Julius Homes Dealer who is found in the Courthouse in Erothin. Upon purchasing the house for 10,000 gold pieces, you are given quest update that tells you to look for clues as to why this nice house has been abandoned. Erothin Enter the house and do a thorough search for any clues. On the book case near the foot of the bed is a bank locker key, numbered 1221. Ignore the “stealing” icon (red icon) and take the key as it is the clue you are looking for. After taking the locker key, a quest update will inform you to check the bank locker obviously. Head over to the bank. Now, if you have not already opened your own account and locker at the bank, you may run into trouble here because the bank manager may not allow you to access the back part of the bank where the lockers are located. I am unsure of whether or not this matters because when I began this quest I already had my own account. If this is a problem and you do not want to open your own account then, in the “Notes” section of this walkthrough, I will explain another way into the back of the bank. If you already have your own bank account, simply enter the bank and tell Banker Rodrigues that you would like to access your locker. Find and access locker 1221. In the locker will be some loot and a letter from the former owner of your house. It seems he is an Aeterna merchant who fled Erothin because Chancellor Barateon had begun to persecute the Aeterna residents of the city. The note also tells you that he set out for his family farm which is located southeast of Giliad near a great waterfall. Check your world map for a map marker and you will find that this farm is on the south side of the road to the Arcane Sanctum, a bit east of the Aeterna Camp. Begin your journey to the farm. Devastated House When you arrive at the farm, you see that there has been trouble. The outside of the dwelling is strewn with furniture, blood and body parts. Upon entering the Devastated House you discover that whoever may have been in the house at the time, probably met a bad end. Searching the house, you will find an old, dusty message left by the Aeterna Merchant. It seems he made it to the house and waited for his family for several weeks but no one came. Eventually he decided to set out to see if his father was still working in the Mine at the Collapsed Pass to the Southrealm, behind Tirin Abbey. A quest update will explain that this is your next destination. Check your world map to find a map marker located due south of Tirin Abbey, near the border of the South Realm. Getting to the Old Mine Getting to the Mine at the Collapsed Pass to the Southrealm can be difficult. The intended way to get there is to head to Tirin Abbey and then, from Tirin Abbey, take the west-southwest road until it ends at Faldrin Fortress. This road can be somewhat difficult to follow as, when you are relatively near Faldrin Fortress, the road is broken up by a large waterfall. Stay on course at that point and cross the waterfall and the road begins again on the other side. Once you have reached the main archway into the Faldrin Fortress complex, stop. Here you will begin traveling cross-country as there is no road or path to guide you until you get close to your destination. At the main entrance archway to Faldrin Fortress, turn left (east) and skirt the outside of the Fortress walls, making your way around toward the back of the Fortress. From there, open your world map and look for a very small pond, which will be located between where you are now standing and the red map marker denoting your final destination. Your immediate goal is to reach that pond. Begin heading east-southeast, staying to the right and skirting the mountain walls as much as possible. The goal is to stay elevated as much as possible but as long as you do not find yourself heading significantly down the mountainside, you should be ok. Once you have reached the pond, set off to the east again, again staying to your right and making sure to look to your right also as, a short distance from the pond, a path will appear. You may even discover a wooden road sign that points the way to Ostian. If you find this sign, head due south from it and the path will appear to you. Once you have found the path, it is simply a matter of making your way up to the entrance of the Old Mine at the Southern Pass. Old Mine at the Southern Pass Enter the mine and begin exploring. After following the corridors a bit you will come to a small storage area and on the ground, directly in your path, will be a message on parchment. Read this message to receive a quest update and learn that the Aeterna Merchant got at least this far and wasn’t one of the unfortunate people massacred at the family farm. The merchant has gone deeper into the cave in search of his father. Continue on through the doorway into a new section of the mine (there is only one pathway). Follow the new tunnel and eventually you will notice a break in the wall of the cave. Apparently, the Aeterna Merchant’s father broke through and discovered an ancient ruin. Enter the ruin and begin exploring. Eventually you will come upon a larger hall and an astounding sight. Gold, gems and miscellaneous treasure piled high! But something is definitely amiss here. There are also what appear to be statues but upon further inspection (and upon reading the final message found in the hand of one of the “statues”) it becomes apparent that this is the Aeterna Merchant (Petrified Kauffmann) himself, along with his family - all of them transformed into stone statues! The final note ends the quest and warns you that you should be careful what you touch (for obvious reasons). In the immediate area, there are jewels, pearls and coins to loot and there are two gold ingots on the floor near the largest mound of treasure. Other than that, the rest of the amazing treasure trove is static and cannot be looted. The quest is finished but it is a somewhat unsatisfying end. What or who could have done that to Kauffman and his family? A Dragon? The treasure certainly makes one think of a Dragon Horde - though there certainly is no entrance to the chamber large enough for a Dragon to fit through. A Medusa? A Witch? Is the treasure simply cursed? I guess we will never know. Reward *+550 EP Notes The other way into the back of the Bank is to find and enter Tax Collector Kathje's House and then find and use the underground passage from his house to the bank. This involves a good deal of lock-picking and probably (though I am not sure) could get you into some trouble with the city guards if you are caught, so, keep that in mind. My suggestion would be to bring plenty of lock-picks and only attempt it during the dead of night. It seems you do not actually have to be careful what you touch in the treasure room of the Old Mine. I am fairly sure I looted every single lootable item and nothing happened. While the end of the quest is somewhat unfulfilling, it is also interesting because of the sense of mystery surrounding what actually occurred. The not knowing is somewhat spooky. There are a few interesting things to find and explore after exiting the mine. Upon exiting the mine from door in the treasure chamber, you will immediately “discover” the Tomb of the Treasury. A short distance to the southwest of the Tomb of the Treasury is a tower guarded by an Acolyte where you can find yet another Magic Symbol. This tower is situated almost directly above the entrance to the Old Mine, so, if your acrobatics skill is high enough (and it doesn’t take a very high acrobatics skill as long as you go slowly), you can scale down the mountain to the entrance of the Old Mine. If you head in a northeasterly direction from the entrance of the Old Mine you will come across the corpse of a man with very little loot and no explanation as to why he is there. Perhaps he fell to his death from the mountain above. Loot *Common Soul Gem *Health Potion – Exclusive (2) *Emerald *Gold Ingots & chest with coins and Silver ingots (scaffolding above the entrance to Old Mine) *Gold Ingots, flawless pearls, a flawless ruby, etc. (in the treasure chamber - Old Mine) *Random loot in chests and crates as per usual Special Loot *Rune Fire Arrow (Rank III) (found in Bank Locker 1221) *Magic Symbol (found in Bank Locker 1221) *Magic Symbol (scaffolding above the entrance to Old Mine) *Magic Symbol (Tower southwest of Tomb of the Treasury) *Potion of Encumbrance (Treasure chamber - Old Mine) Quest Journal The use of the console is same like in Oblivion. Description how to use console commands can be found here Category:Quests